Significant effort and attention has been directed over the years at automating material handling and manufacturing. Ultimately, material processing equipment must be cost effective to manufacture and use. Therefore, innovation is needed to produce manufacturing equipment that is affordable, in view of its intended use, without sacrificing or comprising precision, accuracy, and overall functional performance.
Table saws may be equipped with a movable fence to allow an operator to set desired cut dimensions. Table saw fences typically are movable along a rail that is bolted along one side of the table saw. An operator may slide the fence back and forth along the rail and then lock the fence in place by means of a locking handle. Many such table saws are sold in a design that requires manual adjustment of the fence.
Sometimes it is desirable to use a table saw in an automated or semi-automated capacity. Digital positioning systems are available for adding on to a table saw that has a manually operable fence. Aftermarket automated fence positioning systems may be cumbersome to install. Some positioning systems are not flexible enough to be easily mounted on different table saw configurations. Thus, an object of the invention is to provide an automated fence positioning system that is easy to install and to adapt to different table saw designs.
Another object of the invention is to produce a table saw control system that is less expensive to produce compared to prior control systems, without compromising speed, precision, and accuracy specifications.